Salt Lake Tribune | 1918-01-27 | Page 1 | Eight Killed in Explosion at Newport

EIGHT KILLED IN EXPLOSION ATJEWPORT Ten Buried in the Ruins of the Concrete Bombproofs Where the Disaster Occurred. i I NEWARK DOCK IS FIRED BY SPIES Incendiary Shoots at Patrol, Bullet Passing Through Hat of Sergeant; Grain Ship on Fire. NEWPORT, R. I., Jan. 26. Three bombproofs at the naval torpedo station here were wrecked by an explosion of fulminate of mercury late today. At least eight civilian employees were killed and seven were injured, oiio probably fatally. Ten others were buried in" the ruins of the heavily concreted structures and little hope was expressed that many of them would be removed alive. Captain Cap-tain Edward L.. Beach, commandant of the station, said none of tho survivors was able to give an account of what had happened, but there was no doubt, he asserted, that the explosion was accidental. acci-dental. The explosion occurred in bombproof No. 2, used as a drying room for detonators deto-nators after they have been filled with fulminate of mercury. The detonators are designed for setting off the high explosive ex-plosive in torpedo heads. Only enough explosive is kept on hand to meet the demands for the day and the shelters are built for the most part underground, to localize explosions. There are eight bombproofs on the island and today's explosion was of sufficient force to wreck only Nos. 1, 2 and 3. That the loss of life in the bombproofs was not greater was due to the fact that at noon about half of the usual number of employees in the three shelters had been transferred temporarily to another department. The big shops where hundreds of workers are engaged in the manufacture of the navy's torpedoes are located only a few hundred feet from the shelters. One building devoted exclusively to women workers, was but a hundred feet away. The terrific concussion threw most of the girls into hysterics, and many of. them fainted. The discipline of tho large force of marine guards and seamen on the island was up to the best traditions of the service. serv-ice. Led by Captain IS'each, the marines and bluejackets attacked the heap of demolished de-molished masonry and timbers even before be-fore the flames were put out. Some of the dead were badly mangled and were extricated with difficulty from beneath heavy concrete blocks. ' It was reported at first that scores of the girls employed in the shops had been killed and the excitement among their relatives here ran so high the guards had difficulty in handling them. Late tonight a rescue party heard voices in the ruins of No. 1 bombproof. A pipe was sunk to the spot and it was learned two men were alive. They ' were given stimulants and nourishment through the pipe and a derrick was impressed im-pressed into service to relieve the heavy debris over them. By midnight ten bodies had been recovered. Eight of them were identified. The two men discovered alive in No. 1 bombproof died before they could be reached. The bodies were recovered. It was believed at least three more bodies were in the ruins. WIDESPREAD PLOT TO CRIPPLE U. S. WAR ACTIVITIES NEW YORK, Jan. 26. Indications of a widespread plot to cripple the war activities activi-ties of the United States were seen today In a series of fires in shipyards, on munition mu-nition ships, in war plants and storage buildings at various points along the Atlantic At-lantic seaboard and farther inland. Nearly all of them were' of distinctly suspicious origin. Fears that the flames may have been set by enemy aliens were given strength by the fact that they started within a few hours at widely separated points almost a week to a day after Edward N. Hurley, chairman of the United States shipping board, declared that the government had been given authoritative warning of a German plot to apply the torch to plants of all kinds, especially shipyards, which, are producing implements of war. Mr. Hurley ordered the trebling of soldiers and police guards at ail war plants and in some cases this precaution resulted in preventing even more serious los.-es. It was announced from Washington Washing-ton today that this warning was issued because a "crank letter" bad not been properly Investigated, but government agents in various parts of the countrv were inclined to believe that it was well founded. Guards were again strengt h-ened h-ened to make even more difficult the depredations of German agents. Disastrous fires sta rtf d only a few hours apart in shipyards at Xewa rk, N. J., and Baltimore. The losses wili aggrecate ?2.0'i0.00m. Fires were discovered on loaded munition mu-nition ships at two Atiantie ports today, (Continued on Page Three.) ! EIGHT IE KILLED li NEWPORT EXPLOSION (Continued from Page One.) buf Uioy w-to extinguished before serious dain;iRe had bon iornv Thf-re wer othrr f Irps of a suspicious rmMrp in New Yrk, Fatorson, N. J., Kuffwlo. Maynard, Man., and Peter.sboro. Canada. In every eas? a ripid Invsti-Ration Invsti-Ration will be mtidf r It her by tnili turgor turg-or municipal authorities In an effort to fix tho responsibility.